Sunday, September 14, 2008

Dedicated arse kicking post

Now you can give me a hard time about not exercising without having to scroll through the long post and comment thread on the original!

p.s. please remember that I don't log my regular bike ride to work and back - 12 very hilly kilometres a day, most week days!

31 comments:

  1. Arse is being kicked right now. What have you been doing for the past 4 days?

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  2. It's all because of not being able to cycle to work properly. I'm either commuting by bus, or cycling extremely slowly, due to very very harsh frost. This leaves me no time to go to the gym before work, and I really hate going after work (I did it last week and it sucked). I've also had several early morning meetings, and was away from Friday until Monday... snow is forecast for tomorrow so it could be a while before I can get any kind of momentum going!

    But thanks for the kicking!

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  3. Uh oh...it's been over a week!

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  4. Indeed... last week was a wash-out, too sore from skiing at the beginning, too crampy at the end! But I'm planning to go to the gym tomorrow morning and then swimming with a friend on Thursday.

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  5. Nice work on the running! This isn't an arse-kicking post, as I believe the runs themselves are kicking it for you. But I love the increase in total time and running time!

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  6. Thanks mate!

    I don't know if the total time will increase much more, it's going to all be about increasing the % of the total time spent actually running from now on.

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  7. You are doing an awesome job of increasing the running time each week. Good job!

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  8. Thanks! It's getting harder... and I do need to increase the frequency, should be easier now it's cooled down a bit!

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  9. No running in over 2 weeks? It is going to be hard to get back into it!

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  10. I know, I'm dreading it. Turns out it doesn't take much (4 day trip plus hot weather) to derail my hard-won good habits! I'm going to try tomorrow... but let's just say that my bike isn't the only cycle that affects my exercise.

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  11. Yes, but if you can run through it, you will feel better (even though it is horrible at the time). The same goes for hangovers. I know, sounds like death, but it really does work!

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  12. But it's TOO HOT!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

    Seriously, you should see how red my face gets when I'm running in the rain, let alone the heat. And it stays red (and emits heat like a space heater) for a good couple of hours after the run and a cold shower. All this is independent of how much water I drink or what I wear. People actually laugh at me when I get into work!

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  13. I swear I was gonna try to go running this morning, but I stepped on something sharp in the bathroom last night and hurt my foot (there was blood all over the floor). It's still pretty sore. So no running for me.

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  14. What about some stretchy exercises like yoga or pilates?

    And what is the weather like up there anyway? Nice enough to exercise?

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  15. A very nice doctor just took a 3mm piece of glass out of my foot after it got stuck there from last night. So now I feel justified for not running ;)

    The weather is HOT HOT HOT! Well, for Vancouver anyway, but I chose to move here partly because I can't deal with the heat and anywhere more Southern would probably kill me. It's about 29C at the airport right now, so probably about 32C in town.

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  16. And, by coincidence, I did yoga at the weekend, for the first time in about 10 years! One of my fellow guests at a weekend-long house party just qualified as a yoga instructor, and she ran a class on the lawn on Saturday morning. The sun was beating down and she really put us poor hungover folks through our paces. I was really struggling at one point, wobbling away, muscles screaming at me, and sweating buckets, until I looked at the party host and realised he was hurting way more than I was... he almost cried, while his wife held a perfect and motionless advanced pose and calmly discussed the theme of "choices" with him. It was awesome.

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  17. Hooray for yoga! I haven't done yoga in a while (I like doing it with a group) mainly 'cause I'm cheap.

    Soo...what's the plan for this week?

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  18. Not sure yet, it depends on the weather! Probably some more running and maybe a visit to the gym.

    I'm not usually a fan of group classes, but it was different with a group made up 100% of friends!

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  19. Nice job! Maybe we should sign up for a 5K run soon? Just for fun and to support a good cause (and get a Tshirt?).

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  20. It would have to be a very nice t-shirt! Once I get up to 10 minute running intervals I aim to work on my speed, at the moment I would be mortified at my slowness and reluctant to take part in anything where all my friends would be asking what my time was afterwards ;)

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  21. No kicking of but, just recognition of how much running you are doing. Well done! I just bought a Garmin Forerunner GPS, so if you want to borrow it some day to see how far you are going, you are more than welcome to!

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  22. Thanks mate! I'd be interested to see how far I'm going (there are iPhone GPS apps available, but they won't run at the same time as my running intervals app, which I'm now quite attached to, having spent quite some time programming custom intervals into it). My best guess, based on Google Maps, is ~4km.

    BTW I am bright red and starving hungry at work after this morning's run... it's pretty warm out there! I am being good though and am eating an apple instead of the cookie I'm craving.

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  23. Scratch that, I just updated my Runner Lite app to the full version, which tracks distance by GPS (and calories burned) as well as doing intervals. I tested it on my ride home last night and it's reasonably accurate - good enough to track progress at the least. My next run will hit the magic 10 minute running interval, so after I've mastered that I'm going to focus on getting a wee bit faster.

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  24. Don't get frustrated. You are doing awesome! It is hard to make progress and go faster. You are definitely increasing your distance and time. It will come, I promise :).

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  25. Hmmm, maybe ;) It's just annoying that even when I really push myself to go faster (and feel like I'm succeeding), I check the GPS and see that I've once again failed to crack the 4.5km barrier... I check distance every 5 minutes to try to make sure I'm not compensating by sprinting at the end, but it doesn't seem to help. Maybe I'm at my max speed already - depressing thought!

    It was easier to notice progress when I was increasing the length of the running interval...

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  26. It takes a long time to see the speed improvement. You have been improving in endurance up to now, which is easier to 'see'. You are also running more now, so your body is more tired each time. It really does take a long time. If you want to work on it, why not try adding some intervals in? Pick a minute of time, say, and decide to run at a much higher heartrate for that minute. Maybe the 2nd to last minute of each run interval, giving you 1 minute of normal run before your walk? That will get your body used to going slightly faster. You can then add in a 2nd minute earlier on. Before you know it, your 'normal' run will feel quite slow and you will be going faster overall.

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  27. OK, good to know - thanks for the encouragement! I'll try the interval idea - would you recommend a full-on go-as-fast-as-I-possibly-can for that minute, or something halfway between that and my usual pace?

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  28. Well, it would depend on how ambitious you feel :). You could go flat out, but remember how long a minute is when running? Perhaps you can try increasing your perceived exertion by 10-20% and see if you can maintain that for a minute. If so, up it again the next time to the point where you can complete the minute but it is difficult to do so. Keep challenging yourself and your body will respond. By the way, this is pretty much my own way of improving my own speed. Others may not agree and I would delighted to hear alternative ideas!

    The Grind? Brilliant for improving fitness and increasing your ability to manage intensity. Not much fun, though, is it?

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  29. 10-20% sounds doable!

    The Grind really wasn't fun... but at least I did it! I also realised that my iPhone app GPS isn't brilliant - it only registered about half the distance and elevation gain as the official stats. So I'm feeling a wee bit better about my distances not increasing on my runs - maybe it's a GPS problem, not a Cath problem!

    (I'll still try your advice though!)

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  30. You appear to not have exercised since October! Neither have I, but I'm lazy. =P

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  31. Damnit, I hoped no-one would notice until I got started again!

    What can I say? Swine flu, then a vacation (where I did lots of swimming and walking), then when we came back it was soooooo cold and I still had a wee bit of a cough. I'm going skiing in a couple of weeks so I do need to do something before then.

    Sigh.

    Thanks for the kicking. I suppose. ;)

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